THE NE.W YORKER great detail, and his book is an en- cyclopedia of rascality, from which a reader may learn how to steal elections, addle juries, and make money in politics. Morgan frequent- ly assails "liberals" for their gentilit} and timidity, yet between bouts of righteous indignation he displays a sense of humor and tells us a lot about any number of polirical ce- lebrities and a couple of nonpolitical ones, such as Muhammad Ali, whose appeal to be classified as a conscien- tious objector Morgan won. SNAKES & LADDERS, by Dirk Bogarde (Holt, Rinehart & Winston; $12.95). If Dirk Bogarde was, for a while, a star, he did not twinkle so much as flicker, having been type- cast early on by the failing British film industry and stranded, for the better part of his career, in a stnng of forgettable swashbuckling and "cloth-cap and raincoat" roles. It was not until 1969, when he was al- most fifty years old, that Luchino Vis- conti cast him in his most memorable role: von Aschenbach in "Death in Venice." Mr. Bogarde's social and theatrical ups and downs, more nu- merous and less alpine than those of his more celebrated friends (includ- ing Noël Coward, Judy Garland, Rex Harrison, and Elizabeth T ay- lor), are not particularly thrilling, but his accounts of private views and conversations are exquisite, and his story is worth reading for the pleasure of these passages alone. WILD HABITATS, by Aleta Karstad (Scribners; $12.95). Miss Karstad is a multi-gifted Canadian field nat- uralist, and this elegant little book is a depiction-an observation in drawings and text-of twenty-five natural habitats, mostly in Canada but generally applicable to the U nit- ed States as well, that she has visited and patiently studied: the ocean beach, an eastern mixed forest and cleared land, a railroad embank- ment, a northern lake, a burn, a bog, a prairie wheat farm, a city, a sagebrush desert, a stretch of tun- dra, a mountain timberline, a west- ern rain forest. She is a fine descrip- tive writer ("Lifting a flat stone may expose smooth, velvety beetle grubs, sleeping, curled like fat brown cats, on their sides") and a precise pictorial artist, and her drawings (some in color) of raccoon tracks, a dead bumblebee, a maple leaf, a fly larva, a poplar bud, grouse drop- pings, a clamshell, the jawbone of a hare are as vivid as her writin2". L This is a choice book-part celebra- 107 SUßSCRJßER SERVICE I. NEW ORDER OR RENEWAL. To start a subscription to The New Yorker or to extend your current subscription enter your name and address below and check the subscription term you prefer Your Name Address City State Zip D One year. $24 D New subscriber D Two years: $40 D Renewal (attach mailing label) Additional Postage: Canada & MexICO $4.00 per year; other foreign $8.00 per year. D My check for $ IS enclosed. Please bill my: 0 Master Charge 0 American Express 0 Visa Account # Signature 4369 2.. TO GIVE A GIFT: Enter your name and address above and your recipient s name and address below o One year: $24 0 Two years: $40 To Address City Gift card to read IIFrom State Zip I' J CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please give us 4 weeks notice Attach your magazine label here; print your new address above in section 1 (If you have a question about your sub- scription, be sure to send us your label with your letter.) Return this coupon to: THE NEW YORKER Subscription Department, 25 W. 43rd Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10036 Or, phone toll-free 800-223-0200 (in N.Y. State 212-840-3800)